This invention relates to coke production. In particular, the invention relates to the prevention of environmental pollution during phases of coke production operations which present the most severe environmental problems.
In the production of coke from coal for use in making iron and steel, the coal is most often treated in a by-product coke oven. The process, including the equipment involved, is described in "The Making, Shaping and Treating of Steel", 9th Edition 1971, pages 109-164, published by U.S. Steel Corporation. In the process, at the end of the carbonization period, hot coke is pushed from one side of an oven and discharged at the other side of the oven into an open railway car. Large quantities of atmospheric pollutants, such as smoke and combustion fumes, are released in the general area of contact between the hot coke and air as the hot coke emerges from the oven and bursts into flame. The equipment traditionally used includes a battery of coke ovens and a coke guide mounted on a car which is moved on a track along the battery of ovens at their discharge side. The coke guide ordinarily includes vertical walls braced on the car with adequate clearance between them to permit passage of the cake of coke pushed from the oven, but sufficiently close together to aid in retaining the coherence of the cake of coke. The vertical walls are usually constructed of small channels that are separated by a given amount in order to effectively dissipate the heat and prevent warpage of the structure. When the doors at the pushing and discharge sides of a preselected oven are removed and the coke guide aligned with that oven, the coke is pushed from the oven and the cake of coke moves through the coke guide. Pollutants are immediately generated by the hot coke as it comes in contact with the air in the coke guide and enters the atmosphere through the open slots between the channel supports of the coke guide vertical walls. As the cake of coke extruded from the oven passes through and leaves the coke guide at its discharge end, the bottom and sides of the cake are no longer supported and the cake of coke crumbles in a fiery mass into the open railway car mounted on a track situated sufficiently below the coke guide and moving at a proper rate to catch the discharged coke. This results in the generation of additional pollutants, including fines, and pollutants are continuously generated from the hot coke in the railway car, which is exposed to the atmosphere, until the hot coke is quenched at some time thereafter.
Recently, the consideration of environmental quality has required that as much pollutants as possible should be kept from entering the atmosphere. Satisfaction of this requirement with respect to coke production installations has presented difficult problems, especially during the coke pushing operation and prior to quenching of the hot coke, due to the inherent characteristics of the coke production process, particularly the high temperatures involved, the massive size of the installation and the magnitude of pollutants generated. The problems are multiplied with respect to coke production installations already in existence which ordinarily include no provision for even attempting to control generated pollutants. In such installations, it has been difficult if not impossible to add necessary pollution control equipment to meet requirements without rebuilding basic structural components of the installation which cannot be done in many installations because of space limitations.
The present invention provides a novel method and apparatus for substantially completely solving all pollution problems attendant coke production beginning with and following the coke pushing operation where the most severe pollution problems are encountered. The method and apparatus provided by the present invention are so characterized as to be readily useable for effective pollution control in existing coke production installations without requiring structural changes in basic components of installation and without presenting space limitations.